MX5 Owners in here....bring your curling tongs

Going to look at a mk1 this afternoon.

Was thinking about a mk3 but with £5k I'm scraping the barrel a bit so spending less on a nice mk1.
 
Dilemma time..

I have been trying to sell my '04 Mk2.5 without much luck, as its really a niche market over here and waiting for the right enthusiast to come along will take ages..
Anyway, I have been offered a 2008, which seems pretty solid other than rather tatty body work, which could all be fixed for a price..where as mine is perfect cosmetically but if something should go badly wrong I would have a hard time fixing it here.
Is there anything obvious I should look out for on it? All I could find was an annoying rattle on the roof latch.

Not sure that I really want to trade, but I would hope the '08 GCC market car can fetch more than an '04 US import. Then again if I like it I may just keep it.

Anyone who has owned an NB and NC got some suggestions?

Thanks
 
Heres my MX5, finally got it sorted after the prang.

Now its a CAT C which sucks, but for the money it costs to run I intend on keeping it for a while and making improvements as and when.

8hSe6Go.jpg
 
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Ezah said:
Dilemma time..

I have been trying to sell my '04 Mk2.5 without much luck, as its really a niche market over here and waiting for the right enthusiast to come along will take ages..
Anyway, I have been offered a 2008, which seems pretty solid other than rather tatty body work, which could all be fixed for a price..where as mine is perfect cosmetically but if something should go badly wrong I would have a hard time fixing it here.
Is there anything obvious I should look out for on it? All I could find was an annoying rattle on the roof latch.

Not sure that I really want to trade, but I would hope the '08 GCC market car can fetch more than an '04 US import. Then again if I like it I may just keep it.

Anyone who has owned an NB and NC got some suggestions?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The 08 (NC1) cars are pretty reliable, there are some concerns regarding corrosion and water ingress which I'd be checking on a UK car closely, but I doubt either presents much problem where you are!

The engines do need to be kept topped up with oil though, low oil can kill the bottom end quite quickly if driven properly. Handling very much benefits from proper wheel aligment, and the standard ride height is not great. Many people will fit lowering springs to improve the handling. They are less raw feeling than the earlier cars but much more refined and modern feeling.
 
Thanks Will, we drove each others cars and I did like the extra power, refinement and solid feel. There are not many twisties around here so any reduction in handling won't bother me too much. He did say his NC had had a gearbox oil leak which had been temporarily repaired, so I'll need to check more into that if I go for it. But any repairs can be done easily as its a local car and the NB only exist as rare imports.

I did think my NB felt rough and underpowered when I got back into it.. So I am quite tempted if the quotes for the sill and wheel arch repairs are not too bad.

edit: interested to know what its going to take to fix these (rear arch and passengers sill):


 
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The sill you see there is a plastic panel that clips onto the side of the car (they don't look like clip on sills on the pre facelift mk3 as they follow the shape of the car so well...but they are, not like the metal sills on the mk1/mk2 that can rust in colder climes than yours ;)). Should be easy enough to fix that.

The dent in the wing could be pulled out pretty easily I'd have thought.

Gearbox leak is an odd one, has the box been out of the car at any point? Labour to remove/refit the gearbox on these won't be that cheap. If its just the drain/fill plug leaking then should be cheap as chips to fix, new plugs and washers will cost literally pennies I'd have thought.

If you get the gearbox oil changed (2.1L of fluid required) then go for 75w90 GL4 stuff, some places will put in universal gear ol that meets GL4 and GL5 specs but this tends to give you notchy shifts until it warms up, the boxes want GL4 spec oil only. Diff oil is fine with GL5 though if you plan on getting that done at the same time, you only need 0.7l of fluid for that.
 
Mk1 1.6 here, best course of action to fix the loose strut/stays on each side holding the bumper up? Looks like a captive threaded/bolt has rusted through, self tapping screw maybe?

nJMV7ao.png
 
Each to their own and all that but I really can't see the point in running an MX5 with a hardtop. Having the roof down is the best thing about my one as it is such a different driving experience. I'd even go as far as to say that I actually dislike driving it with the roof up and I'd rather just drive our Punto if I know the weather is likely to stop me getting the top down. :o

EDIT - They do look good with a hardtop though.
 
Totally agree =} they look great but defeat the purpose, especially with that weather. If its your only car though I guess it can be nice for a change.
Looking good though, guys.
 
Hi there, looking at changing my current car (1.2 clio) but struggling to find anything that I can run to work everyday and insure. Could any of you give me an insight as to whether this would be a good idea or not and how much it would cost to run in comparison?

Cheers
 
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